They challenge my age, the operation - by an old man - of this huge BB-flat tuba, the required brisk movement of these large rotary valves, and all that jazz...sure: in addition to constantly reminding me that I'm SUPPOSED to be making MUSIC.
Check out this really superb cellist (particularly playing the FIRST of the pair of Gavottes - the one in duple meter).
One thing I need to do is to lose the caffeine
, and play at HIS tempo (which makes a helluva lot more sense - in the mid-50's bpm - rather than up in the mid-60's...even though I tend to think of gavottes at-or-near the faster previously-mentioned tempo range).The OTHER thing that I need to do (...how many of you are old guitar players, and learn tuba music the same way?) is to learn all the CHORDS to first Gavotte - as they pass so very quickly (mostly: a new chord for every half beat - ie. pair of eighth notes).
I like it.
I don't yet 100% understand it (harmonically...LOTS of implied 7th chords)...and I'm going to pull out my (actual) cello edition (setting this trombone book aside), cheat, and just LOOK at the chords that BACH wrote (double and triple stops). I'm going to quit playing "at it", and stop on each half beat (pair of 8th notes) figure out the chords, run each chord's arpeggio (maybe even WRITE IN the changes), and then go back and work on this dance movement based on an actual understanding of it.The second gavotte (triple meter) is much easier. The "notes" are faster, but the CHORDS move MUCH more slowly and are much more obvious - even though there are very few double/triple stops.
As should seem obvious, I'm hitting movements which I previously (over the last fifty-something years of playing) tended to skip past.
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